Archive for the ‘Philippe Boucher’ Category

After 17 years with the NHL, Philippe Boucher has decided to call it quits. He was an extremely loved player in his time here with the Dallas Stars and the NHL is going to be without one fantastic defenseman.

Hey what is this? A liveblog? I figured why not! Since a lot of people might not get to see the first part of the game.

Check back here at game time!

PREGAME

They’ve got Bob Sturm in studio with Ric Renner, Mr. Hair with Mr. No Hair. They talk about stringing 2 wins in a row, and how the Ducks and Sharks are the two teams we knocked out of the playoffs last season. (Wow really? I had no idea.)

Now talking of Russian, that will not make him happy. They mention that against the Sharks, Marty is 20-7-1-4, so things are looking up. The ford Trivia question is “Who has the most career assists against the San Jose Sharks?” with Lidstrom, Modano, Sakic and Selanne being your choices. We’ll see who the answer is. And now they’re running the segment on Richards that I have now seen about 50 times.

Razor is interviewing Mark Parrish. He seems like a nice man! I like him, especially after last night. And Joe Sakic wins the battle with 47 assists against the Sharks. Time for Sturm’s last night (talking about how Marty Turco needs to be a brick wall) and LET’S GET THIS SHIT STARTED!!

1st Period

Ralphie’s tie doesn’t really match his suit, and it bothers me. In other news (not mentioned on the broadcast), Lehtinen is still a no-go for tonight, Richards is in.

20:00: First up is Otter-Richards-Eriksson. And my feed looks a little green? I guess for Stars morale? Thought it seems to be straightening out.

19:00: Modano out with Parrish and Avery. Unlike the first line, the Mo line actually got it to the Sharks end. This is where we need to be guys. Harder for them to score 5 from that side.

19:33: Ribeiro is out with Morrow and Fabi again. And are doing much better than the first 2 lines, as they should be. Being that they ARE the ‘top line’.

17:31: and Marleau is leaving after being hit with a puck I believe from another Sharks player. That sucks for you. Especially with no Cheechoo.

And I just read on Heika that the Sharks fans boo when the word “star” is said in the national anthem. And people say we’re disrespectful? First booing the O Canada, now this?

Hello everyone. I am here for the first Shootout liveblog of the 08-09 season. As I said in a previous post, the Stars are in St. Louis tonight, coming off a much needed and deserved win against the Nashville Predators last night. Let’s get this shit started.

PREGAMEThey are doing a story on Stu being an assistant coach, I’m pretty sure I saw this on Stars Insider, but that’s okay. I do not mind watching it again. (Dear lord please don’t let my laptop die before I find somewhere to plug this thing in in the living room.) This is my first liveblog on this laptop, so I am enjoying being able to lounge on the couch while blogging. I guess I kinda got off subject, didn’t I? Stuie looks so proud of his Traverse City plaque, which the Stars won. Because they’re awesome. Aw they are going to talk bout Boo-Boo!! Yay Boo-Boo. They are previewing the goalies, Marty and Legace. I love Legace, well, not tonight. But otherwise I like him. He was so awesome last year in the All-Star game, all five-foot-nothing of him. HELLO RALPHIEE!! I do wish they’d fix this IFB stuff, because the delay is a tad annoying. AW LUDY JUST CALLED HIM BOO-BOO! I love it. Why they have to mention Russian being out, because that is not something I want to be reminded of. Injury update….oh boy. Jere Lehtinen (groin) and Steve Ott (undisclosed) did not make the trip, uh oh. Ludy is a big fan of the injury policy, in that other teams don’t automatically know what injured certain players, I agree with you Ludy. Because I know personally that if Brenden had injured a foot, I wouldn’t want everyone going after that certain foot as soon as he’s back in the line up. At least I have a cat to entertain me during breaks.

1ST PERIOD

20:00: I will use this time to say that…no one wins the tie battle. They are both equally awful. Let’s get this game goin guys! Opening line is Neal, Modano and Crombeen. D-men are Grossman and Robi.

19:00: Next on the ice is Eriksson, Morrow and Ribeiro.

18:48: Neal takes an interference penalty. Whatevs. He is too young to interfere with anyone! Blues have the number 1 PP so far. Wow, after a whole week. You must be proud.

18:28: Boucher lost his stick! OH NO! Got it back but now only has one glove! DO NOT HURT HIS HAND!

17:50: I have a weird love for Kariya, I don’t know why. BUT I HATE PLAYING HIM. GET THE PUCK AWAY FROM HIM NOWWWW.

16:48: Penalty Killing is getting back on track…

16:20: Some Blues player got really close to getting a goal, but it went behind Turco and past the net. Thank goodness.

I am taking a page from Tim MacMahon (who I love. YES I AM CONFESSING MY LOVE FOR YOU!) by calling him the Swedish dude. For those of you who are asking “huh?” I am talking about Mr. Fabian Brunnstrom.

Boy oh boy DO I LOVE THIS KID! Not only did he become the second Stars rookie this season to score his first NHL goal in his debut game, but became the 3rd player in HISTORY to get a HAT TRICK, yes a FUCKING HAT TRICK, in his first game! It hasn’t been done in 29 years, not even by the second coming of Gretzky, Sidney Crosby. Hell, not even Gretzky did it. Now, I’m not saying he is going to be as amazing as Gretzky was with the scoring, but still. It’s fun to say. (Gretzky’s face after their loss tonight was also classic. As was the player faceplanting himself on the ice after the Blackhawks scored.)

Before I go off on how much I love him, I could talk about the rest of the team. They finally looked like a team. They passed better, communicated better and just played better in general. Tonight was the first time they started to pick up from where they left off last season. Loui Eriksson almost got the scoring started, but Brenden Morrow was being called for goalie interference. Sigh, the refs were set on penalizing him like crazy. Stephane Robidas got the scoring started in the first with a power play goal with help from the Mike’s, Modano and Ribiero.

The second period was high scoring, 6 goals in all. Mike Modano put the Stars up 2-0 with help from his linemates for the night Crombeen and Petersen. Nashville tied it up in the next 10 minutes, with goals from Radek Bonk (assists from Erat and Peverley) and Patric Hornqvist (assists from Weber and Suter). The Stars managed 2 more goals, both coming from Fabian Brunnstrom. The first assisted by Petersen and Boucher and the second from Richards and Avery, who were his linemates of the night. His first two career goals bookended a goal from Ryan Jones.

Just under 11 minutes into the third, the Preds tied it up, again. And just over 6 minutes later, the magic happened. From a gorgeous feed from Richards behind the net, that Swedish dude nets his first career hat trick on just his 3rd NHL goal. He almost got a 4th goal, but the play had been waved dead just before the puck entered the net due to a Preds player getting injured. Mike Modano stuck the nail in the Preds coffin by getting an empty-netter with 4 seconds left. I am going to have to kiss the person who got me the free tickets tonight, because what a fantastic game to attend. The team really seemed to be energetic, I guess getting off to a 0-1-1 start was all the motivation they needed to get their act together. Mike Modano was more physical tonight than I’ve seen him in a while, and it was awesome to see. Oh goodness.

Now, on to gush about the boy that is Fabian. First to quote Tippett about this fantastic boy.

“The process is going well. He played a solid game,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “The goals are easy to see, but I was very impressed with the way that he played a pretty simple, error-free game, did what he was supposed to do and he capitalized on some chances. It’s a great start for him. Again, it’s not just the goals, it’s the other things that he’s doing out there that make you feel good about where he’s come from. He’s a good player and he’s going to continue to improve.”

He played a great, great game. Especially for a rookie. He was interviewed after the game, and had this to say:

“I scored 3 goals and that was fun, but more important was that we won the game and now we have our first win. It was a lot of fun tonight.” “…I just try to go out, work hard and enjoy the game. I’m really glad to be a part of the NHL. I’m having fun right now.” “…Dallas, I love everything about it and the organization. They have been so great to me.”

And with that first quote, he became Sergei “I like winning” Zubov’s favorite teammate. I love. This kid. So much. NHL on the Fly included all 3 of his goals in their Ice Pix; his first goal was number 5, his second number 3 and his hat trick was number 1. Fantastic. Bloody fantastic. Yes, I said bloody. Speaking of, I must mention that I approved of at least one thing Avery did tonight during the game. Someone from the Preds had hit Brunnstrom and knocked his helmet off, so Avery went after him. Good boy Avery, that is one way to get into my good graces.

Yes. Stars lost to the Edmonton Oilers tonight, 3-2. The Stars put up a good fight, definitely played better than they had been. There is still a lot of stuff to work on though. BJ Crombeen got the first Stars goal, from Barch and Boucher. Robidas tied the game 2-2 on the power play with help from Eriksson and Modano. Tonight was Doug Janik’s first time in a Stars uniform, and from what I saw of him tonight, he was a good guy to get. He played really really well. It was also really great to see Boucher back on the ice

It was not fun to watch, though. Lots of stuff to work on between now and Friday. I added 2 people to the 2008-2009 Shitlist, so that is fun.

We had kick ass seats though, Cat and Ajay got vouchers for taking canned food to the game on September 25th, and when we asked for 4 tickets together we ended up with Section 122 row F. Woot.

Alrighty, so the Stars have picked up a defensement off waivers, Doug Janik from the Chicago Blackhawks. Which means, counting Zubov, we have 8 defensemen. Now I am quite paranoid Fishsticks will be sent to the minors. Eeek :(

Speaking of the ‘Hawks, they are in town tonight. And believe it or not, you can hear Ralph and Razor tonight on WBAP calling the game, the only pre-season game aired on BAP this season. Heika is reporting that Turco is expected to be in goal, but no word yet on if Boucher will play or not. Brenden Morrow and Nicklas Grossman are also question marks due to hip problems. Oh Morrownator you best be okay.